The latest revelation that Donald Rumsfeld actually threatened to fire any subordinate who tried to come up with a post-invasion occupation plan makes me feel a little less crazy. Among the few posts airing theories about the bizarre decision-making by the Bush administration before I went on vacation, there was this one:
Some in the administration and among Bush-supporters, like me, believed in democratization as well as WMD-removal as twin pillars of the war. But the war-plan proves that this was not what Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush really had in mind. The most plausible interpretation is that they expected the discovered WMDs to provide complete justification for the war - and then wanted to get out as fast as possible, with a friendly exile like Chalabi installed. They wanted merely to send an intimidating signal.
For this and other attempts to make sense of Bush incoherence, I was described as demented, paranoid, etc. Of course, anyone who has read "Fiasco," or "Cobra II" will be less surprised. Fire. Rumsfeld. Now.